First Christmas
by SagittariusWarrior
Summary: Rose and Dimitri are humans. They live in Pennsylvania and life has been a little crazy for them. This is just a one-shot of a nice, quiet night in the Belikov house. I hope you like it! OH! And i don't own anything!


I sat on the couch with my knees tucked up under my chin. A thin blanket wrapped around my shoulders and was held in place with one of my hands while the other held a steaming mug of coffee. The fire cracked and popped in the fireplace and gave off a nice heat that went throughout the house. Christmas music was playing over the radio that sat above the fire on the mantle. My mantle was cozy and comfortable. It was home.

I sat in silence with only the fire and Christmas music making noise in the background for a good part of the night. I loved doing this after a long day of running around town getting ready for the holiday that was fast approaching. I was going to store after store getting things ready for the party that was to be thrown at the house at the end of the week while trying to run the café and everything else that I had to do on a daily basis.

I turned my eyes away from the orange, red flames of the fire and looked out the window on my right. A light snow had started to fall since I was able to sit down. At the rate that it was going and how perfect the snowflakes looked, I knew that when I woke up in the morning there would be a layer of white on everything in sight. It would be really pretty to look at, but it would be a terror to drive through.

I laid my head back against the brown suede couch that I rested against and took a deep breath. The smell of pine from the Christmas tree in the corner mixed with the apple cinnamon air freshener that was plugged into the wall behind the couch. It was festive yet comforting. It was calm yet spicy. It was perfect.

The grandfather clock rung out the hour, pulling my closed eyes up and to the door. It was almost eight and the sun had gone down a long time ago. Dimitri should be getting home any minute now. With his new job as fire chief at the station in town, he had to stay late to make sure that the station was in spit spot shape and efficient. Unfortunately, that meant that he had to stay late sometimes.

As the clock stopped sounding, I got up from my seat. Dimitri would be home when he got home and with the snow falling, I didn't want him rushing to get into an accident. I knew he would make the right decision and stay safe.

Making my way to the kitchen, I started to wash the dishes I had used to make dinner earlier and hummed a little to the music. I put the dishes away and filled up another mug full of coffee before settling down on the couch again. Eight- thirty.

_He'll get home when he gets home, Rose. Stop worrying._

Living in Pennsylvania was something I was used to. The snow, the cold, the ice. I was used to it all, but now that Dimitri's job required him to work late hours, I was not used to worrying about him driving at night. We used to get off around the same time, but now I was home at least two hours before him.

I pulled the blanket that was around my shoulders earlier into my lap and I dug my laptop out from my bag at my feet. I started to chart the café's profits for the week with all the receipts that Lissa had given me. With all my running around, I left the café in Lissa and Mia's care half the time. They had been closing for me the past two months and dropped off the papers for me to keep track of the money coming in and going out of the café. Thank God business was going well or I don't know what Dimitri and I would do with money being so tight and the economy being the way it was.

I had gotten through Wednesday when I felt my eyes start to dry out and burn. I hadn't worn my glasses all week and trying to punch numbers into a computer system made my vision burry. I dug out my glasses and put the laptop away. Dimitri always liked it when I work glasses, but I didn't. I felt too scholarly and we all know how I feel about that.

I took another sip of my coffee and stared into the fireplace. The Christmas music kept playing and this time it was Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" His voice filled the house softly.

I started to think back on the first Christmas Dimitri and I shared as a married couple. It was hard to believe that it was five years ago that we were sitting on this very couch, snuggled up together watching a movie and arguing about where to put the tree that stood in the middle of the room. We couldn't decide on were to put it so Dimitri sat it right in the middle of the room and left it there. It stayed there until Lissa had had enough of our bickering that she and Christian moved it to the corner where every Christmas tree has sat every year since.

I smiled as I looked over at the tree. The lights were twinkling, the glass blue, white, and green balls shone in the fire lighting, and the little ornaments that we had collected together were scattered on the evergreen. I remembered the night we decorated the tree. Actually, it was Dimitri decorating the tree. I sat on the couch the day after Thanksgiving handing him the ornaments to put up. We had been listening to Christmas music that night and he was singing along. At one point he started dancing around like an idiot with a Santa hat on.

I sighed a little as I reminisced. It had been a long time since we had done anything like that. Thinks happened so fast the week after Thanksgiving that we hadn't had a moment to just have fun. When Dimitri came home, we both had things to take care of before we could go to bed and half the time, I feel asleep on the couch while working on lists for the Christmas party or paper work for the café.

The front door opening alerted me that I was not alone, but my eyes stayed trained on the tree, examining Dimitri's handy work. I heard boots softly hit the floor and a jacket being hung up on the hook by the door. Socked feet padded towards me and I felt strong arms wrap around my body. I moved so that I was leaning into Dimitri's side and his arms were wrapped around me.

He didn't have to say anything and neither did I. The fact that we were sitting here together was enough for both of us to be content. I did feel his lips press into my hair on the top of my head in a kiss and I smiled.

"How was your day?" I asked him.

"Long. The boys are still getting used to calling me Chief and the new system around the station," Dimitri answered. He sounded tired and ready for bed. I didn't blame him. "How are you?" He asked me a little more softly.

"I'm good. Tired, but good." It was true. I was exhausted all the time and I was about ready to crash like him.

"Then let's go to bed. We both have to go to work in the morning and tonight may be the only time we can go to bed early."

Dimitri stood up and took my mug from me. I put it in the sink before wrapping an arm around my shoulders and walking up a small flight of steps to our room. When we reached our door though, I stopped and kept walking down the hall. Dimitri followed me into the room next to ours. I opened the door and slid inside. It was dark except for the small light coming from a fake fish bowl sitting on a dresser that rotated the same five fish around and around.

I moved to the small crib that sat against the wall and peered inside. Dimitri came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me again. His chin sat on my shoulder as we both looked down at our three-week-old daughter sleeping soundly. I smiled as I fixed the blanket that she had kicked off in her sleep before leaning into Dimitri.

Lilly was born the first of December and made our lives so much more chaotic. She was a whole week early and Dimitri and I weren't exactly fully prepared for her yet. She was mostly the reason why everything around here was crazy, but Dimitri and I both decided that that was okay with us. We both loved her to death and she had us wrapped around her tiny fingers. She made the tough guy Dimitri was melt with one look into those brown eyes of hers.

I watched her sleep for a moment longer before her daddy and I left her alone in peace. I slipped into bed once I got back to my room and looked out the window to see the snow falling in the moonlight. Dimitri pulled me to him so my back pressed against his chest as he held me close.

"She's gonna be one spoiled kid at Christmas," he chuckled.

I smiled and snuggled closer. "She will be, but she's also the most loved little girl out of the whole gang."

Dimitri's arms squeezed and I felt at home. "Merry Christmas Rose." He kissed my cheek before clicking out the lamp on his side of the bed.

I closed my eyes. "Merry Christmas Dimitri," I whispered.

We both fell asleep with smiles on our faces and dreamt of our first Christmas as parents to the best gift that we had ever received.


End file.
